Animal Crossing: New Leaf isn’t just a game – it’s a whole new world full of lovable characters and insurmountable charm. A world where you'll sometimes find a Metroid or a Triforce in a fortune cookie, where you can arrange your surroundings to perfectly suit your tastes, and where the Mayor still chips in at the local coffee joint. Every day feels different from the last, like you’re living out a separate (and wonderful) life with your wacky villagers. There’s always something to work toward, something to look forward to, something to be proud of or to remember fondly. New Leaf is a truly magical game, one that you can easily expect to invest hundreds of hours in over the course of years. Anyone with access to a 3DS should absolutely give this game a try - just be prepared to kiss your “real” life goodbye.

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If you're looking for headshots, gore, jarhead military lingo, intense difficulty, or anything else designed to keep your pulse racing for the duration of a video game, then this is absolutely not going to satisfy you. But if you enjoy a gentler pace and you don't mind making your own fun, then you should buy Animal Crossing: New Leaf immediately.

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It's a shame that powers of the Mayor are slightly limited to installing benches, instating pre-designated laws and occasionally building bigger venues, however the vibrant visuals and delightful gameplay of New Leaf stop this from ever becoming too much of a problem, making New Leaf the latest essential member of your 3DS collection.

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Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a unique experience on the Nintendo 3DS that feels more like trimming a bonsai tree than playing a video game.

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Maybe, though, you're somewhere else in this special game's vast audience - a clued-in senior who's long tired of Brain Training, or a delighted kid falling in love with video games right at the start of your personal journey. The first Animal Crossing you play is always the best, isn't it? If this is your first, I envy you.

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“New Leaf” is more joyful than “SimCity” and less mindless than “FarmVille” — no matter if you play for five minutes or five hours. It’s too bad there aren’t more dynamic ways to uniquely share the experience with other budding mayors online. Three stars out of four.

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For those that want to slowly savour paying a mortgage, picking fruit and making friends with weird animals in short but sweet daily bursts, New Leaf is the best Animal Crossing yet.

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New Leaf does enough to separate itself from what's gone before and more than deserves a place in any 3DS owner's library.

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I’ll keep playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf because I absolutely love it.

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There is no other videogame out there quite like Animal Crossing, and no single title as enduringly engaging on Nintendo 3DS.

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The introduction of your mayoral duties, a few housing and furniture enhancements and (let's be honest here) the ability to buy your character pants is enough to make Animal Crossing: New Leaf worth playing, even for series veterans.

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Animal Crossing: New Leaf finally evolves and revitalizes the formula, expands on the way you interact with your town in meaningful ways, and more importantly returns the series to portable hardware.

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There’s charm oozing out of every single corner (across both screens!), and even if you’re not a long-time fan there’s a good chance this will be the entry that draws you in.

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Every time you open your 3DS to play New Leaf, you know you’re almost certain to experience something new or surprising. And how many games can you say that about?

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It’s not something that you can marathon, it’s not something you can “beat,” and going in without those expectations will ruin it for you. Its portable nature, plus all of the extra features that they’ve been adding since the first game on the GameCube make this not only the best game in the series, but also a perfect starting point for newcomers.

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Animal Crossing: New Leaf's addicting, ceaseless progression is all in the service of creating an identity for yourself and your surroundings. The expansion of the series' multiplayer capabilities — a vehicle for you to actually showcase that identity — is one of the best things New Leaf has going for it.

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Animal Crossing: New Leaf has a revitalising new flavour, and in 3DS it’s finally found the ideal place to settle down and make its home.

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Despite the daily chores and bee stings, there's something truly captivating about this virtual life, and you'll grow attached to its endearing characters as you chat and exchange letters. For long-time fans, there's much of the familiar, but the vast array of tweaks and additions to Animal Crossing: New Leaf blow through your town like a fresh breeze. It's good to be mayor.

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New Leaf is one of the most purely pleasant experiences in gaming, free of stressful boss fights, combative multiplayer experiences, or cynicism in any form. Instead, it focuses on clever humor and forming friendships with the residents of your town. Some may find it cheesy or without direction, but I enjoyed this endlessly charming outlier in the current gaming landscape.

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New Leaf brings updates both major and minor, but the most important of them for me was the push for customization. You’ll now spend far more time making your town just the way you want it to be and personalizing your character to suit your specific tastes—and, really, that’s what Animal Crossing should be about.

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New Leaf is an expected sequel that doesn't stray far from its predecessors. Still, the happiness of your citizens is so intoxicating that it's easy to be sucked into this portable adventure as you live out your dreams as an all-powerful mayor.

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A new leaf has not been turned. Rather, an old dog is on display. Faithful, loyal, and hard to dislike, but you know what it can do already.

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Neiteio said:

Wow, AWESOME scores! :O

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Nirolak said:

I think that's also a vast improvement over the last entry.

Edit: Yes the DS game got an 86 and the Wii game a 73.

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GameE said:

Videogamer 8 http://www.videogamer.com/reviews/animal_crossing_3ds_review.html

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SuperSah said:

You probably should credit me for gathering all those scores for you!

But hooray!

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Cardigan said:

This, Luigi's Mansion, and Fire Emblem really make me want to buy a 3DS. Must...resist...(for now)!

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POWERSPHERE said:

So what does this one do the old ones don't? More online stuff?

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Cardigan said:

This, Luigi's Mansion, and Fire Emblem really make me want to buy a 3DS. Must...resist...(for now)!

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catfish said:

I have a free code for this and can't bring myself to use it

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SodaBeam said:

Wow, great scores.

Also Edge gave it a 9: http://www.edge-online.com/review/animal-crossing-new-leaf-review/

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catfish said:

I have a free code for this and can't bring myself to use it

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